This spring we transitioned one of our livestock guardian dogs from living outside with the animals to sleeping on our front porch and spending time with the family. To be honest, he failed almost completely at his job as an animal protector (I tried everything). We could trust him with our full grow sheep and goats but any smaller animals including chickens and turkeys would be in certain peril if he had access to them. We considered rehoming him but ultimately decided it would be best to take him to the groomer and make him our (very large, hairy but very loving) house dog. It took me a bit of time to work him into my daily routine and to trust that he wouldn’t run off but I am proud to say that he does a great job of hanging out while I tend to the vegetable production on the farm.

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Zeus hanging out while I work on flipping beds in the cucumber tunnel ❤️

I’ve been enjoying the mostly sunny and less windy days that we have been having around here lately. Yesterday I mowed down some of the spring crops like kale, snap peas & spinach; then with some help tarped several beds that will be replanted in a week or two when the plant residue has rotted down. Whenever possible I like to leave as much of the former crop and roots in the bed to provide green manure for the next planting. A lot of weed were pulled or hoed this week as I cleaned up our established beds.

Today while harvesting for market I decided to fork up some potatoes that we planted back in February. We dug up some nice size Yukon Golds that I will bring tomorrow. If you haven’t experienced freshly cooked new potatoes with their fresh thin skin I highly recommend it!

Bucket of freshly dug spuds 🥔

A few baby, baby carrots I accidentally pulled up while weeding. They are looking great and we should have some tasty root veg to share in early July 🤞🏻

The Oyster Festival is happening this weekend on the plaza so the farmer’s market will be on 8th & I Street (look for us on 8th street if you decide to come out). Here is what I am bringing to market:

Chicken:

Half $8.50/lb

Bone-in Breast $14/lb

Boneless-Skinless Breast $16/lb

Soup Pack $5/lb

Livers & Hearts $8/lb

Feet $6/lb

Chicken Eggs by the Dozen $10

Chicken Bone Broth, by the Quart $12

Vegetables:

Snow Peas by the bag $5 each

Green Beans $8 per pound

Garlic Scapes $3 per bunch

New Potatoes (Yukon Gold) $4/lb

Lacinato Kale $3 per bunch

Golden Berry Plant Starts $20 each

If you would like to reserve anything please respond to this message. On farm pick up is available by appointment. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Best,

Kala

Slowly but surely its happening! Looking forward to that first ripe one…

Where to begin?  Our second year of farming has been quite eventful.  We have increased the frequency and quantity of chickens quite a bit from last year.  Many thanks to all of our customers who pick up on the farm and visit us at the Henderson Farmers Market! 

 The turkey poults arrived yesterday and are just about the cutest things ever.  We are raising Bronze Broad Breasted Turkeys this year; their feathers are already quite beautiful. If you haven’t reserved a turkey for the holidays and would like to please let me know.

 Also of note, we again have sheep on the property.  Last week we purchased 5 Black Faced Dorper Ewes; all of which should be having lambs any day now.  Our goal is to grow a small flock and have lamb available again as soon as this fall. 

 For all of our chicken subscription customers:  We will be harvesting this weekend and have on farm pickup available on Sunday 7/26 and Monday 7/27 from 3-5 pm both days.  If you would like to pick up on either date please contact me regarding when you will be coming to the farm and how many chickens you’d like. If we have already spoken regarding this harvest, please disregard this portion of my message :) For my Henderson market pick up customers let me know which Thursday you would like me to bring your chickens.

Running a farm in this challenging year has had many hardships and blessings. While I really miss sending my daughter off to school and getting to completely focus on farm work I have to remind myself how lucky we are to be living in the country with abundant space and freedom. I wish you all the best of health during these long (mostly) sunny summer days.

Farming is hard and building a website is harder…

This week we set a goal to build and publish our farm website, which has been a parking lot project for too long.  Even with the help of an established platform which we pay to use, the process has not been simple. The thing I find most interesting and helpful in these rapidly evolving times is that with minimal setup headache we now have more than a handful of convenient options to receive payments and are working to create a pickup or delivery system that meets each individual customer’s needs.  Currently we can accept cash, take cards over the phone or in person with our Square Up reader, accept funds via Apple Pay, send invoices to customers. If you have further suggestions for ways we can serve you better, please let us know. Our first priority is to make our nutritious and locally produced products readily available to our community.  

In other news, our first pastured broilers of the season are out on pasture and thriving despite the mercurial spring weather we have recently experienced.  More chicks arrived late last week and are happily brooding until they are ready for the pastured tractor life.

Between building our online presence and maintaining day-to-day farm operations we have also been adjusting to homeschooling our vibrant 5-year-old daughter and caring for our newborn son, who arrived in early February.  Oh, and btw, we are also trying to learn the ins and outs of bio-intensive vegetable production in hopes that we can feed our family and bring fresh produce to market this summer. No big deal… 

I met up with a customer today for a contact-less delivery and even though it was a bit weird adjusting to the social distancing, it was really satisfying to have a face-to-face with someone outside the farm.  I look forward to connecting to each and every customer this season whether it be on farm, at Farmer’s Market, or a scheduled delivery. Here’s to embracing the new normal. If you have any suggestions as to how we can serve you better please don’t hesitate to let us know.  

Cheers and Namaste,  

Farmer Kala